How I shoot Brooklyn rooftops at golden hour
Twenty-three minutes of usable light, three lenses, and one rule about elevators.
Most Brooklyn rooftop weddings give you twenty-three minutes of usable light. Not thirty, not forty — twenty-three. That number is the difference between a printed album spread and a salvaged JPG.
I arrive at the venue two hours before sunset and walk the roof three times. First sweep, I find the elevator. Second sweep, I find the railing the couple will lean on. Third sweep, I find the wall they will not lean on but I will pretend they did because the light is better there.
Lens kit for a Brooklyn rooftop is small. A Leica 35mm Summilux for the wide environmentals. A Hasselblad with the 80mm for the half-body portrait. One roll of Portra 800 in case the light dies twelve minutes early — which it will, in October.
The elevator rule is this. The elevator stops working when the wedding band starts. So if you have not finished the rooftop coverage by the first dance, you will be carrying everything down four flights of fire stairs in the dark.